The present invention relates to an aerodynamic fuel injection system for an annular combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine, the system having at least one injection head with a plurality of air and fuel injectors circumferentially arrayed at the end of the combustion chamber.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,834,159 and 4,045,956, as well as U.K. Patent 2028488 disclose combustion chambers wherein the fuel injectors are circumferentially arrayed around the end of annular combustion chamber and are alternately spaced with air inlets. The alternating array of injectors and air intake apertures results in a circumferentially heterogeneous local richness of the fuel/air mixture in the primary zone of the combustion chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,611 represents the state-of-the-art of such fuel injection systems and discloses an injection system wherein each of the fuel and air injection sets comprises a fuel injector, an air swirler located around the fuel injector to allow the fuel atomizing air to pass therethrough and a bowl-shaped unit which flares outwardly in a downstream direction from the swirler to the end of the combustion chamber and which defines a row of holes to allow air to mix with the atomized fuel cone. The bowls are arrayed circumferentially around the end of the combustion chamber and are spaced a set distance from each other. Since the bowls are circular in cross section, the number of injectors in the combustion chamber will be high.